John Jacob Kieffer
John Jacob Kieffer, among the first emigrants to Milton township, was born October 16, 1759, in the Provisdiction of Zweibricken, Europe. His great-great-grandfather, DeWald Kieffer, was a native of Paris, and of wealthy and noble ancestry. He was the fifth child and oldest son of Michael Kieffer, and left Europe with his parents on April 15, 1773. They first settled in Bedford county, Pa., and lived there for about eight years, then crossed the Allegheny mountains and settled in Somerset county. Here, on September 2, 1787, he was married to Anna Eva Fritz, by whom he had nine children, viz: Michael, Margaret, Elizabeth, Adam, Mary, Jacob, Susanna, Joseph and Eva, who were all born in Somerset county, Pa. In the spring of 1815 he, with his family, immigrated to Wayne county, Ohio, and settled upon the north-east quarter of section 35 of Milton township, there being but few settlers in advance of him. He died there February 23, 1828. His wife died September 28, 1843, aged 75 years.
From History of Wayne County, Ohio, From the Days of the Pioneers and First Settlers to the Present Time, by Robert Douglass, 1878